cloudy water...hagen fluval customer service rep said my tank is cycleing?

D

ddlbrooks

AC Members
Mar 3, 2010
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16
Flushing, MI
My tank has been up for 4 months but the filter is only 2 months old, I got a fluval fx5. The original filters I put on a 55 gal. I do two water changes per week which would amount to approx. 25 - 30% total on a 130 gal. tank. My readings are amonia 0, nitirte 0, nitrate 5 and ph 8. I called customer service for the fluval to ask about how I had packed the filter, to see if I had done something wrong. After asking me a few questions they said that the cycle had probably never cycled totally because of too many water changes.

Do you think this is correct and if so how should I handle the maintence. The customer service rep. indicated I was doing to many water changes for this to cycle. I'm home most days so I'm watching my fish closely and all seems good with them.

Thanks for the help.
 
The tank does not sound like it is cycling.

Water changes do not prevent the tank from cycling because the beneficial bacteria is mainly on the surfaces of the tank/gravel/filter media. There is probably a small amount of bacteria in the water column but not enough to have a significant or noticeable impact on water quality/cycling.
 
That pretty much what I thought and tried to explain that to the rep but she insisted that my tank was still cycling. What would be making the water a bit coudy? When it first showed up I did a 20% water change two days in a row and that didn't make it crystal clear so it's been about 4 days now and it's about the same.
 
ddlbrooks said:
My tank has been up for 4 months but the filter is only 2 months old, I got a fluval fx5. The original filters I put on a 55 gal. I do two water changes per week which would amount to approx. 25 - 30% total on a 130 gal. tank. My readings are amonia 0, nitirte 0, nitrate 5 and ph 8. I called customer service for the fluval to ask about how I had packed the filter, to see if I had done something wrong. After asking me a few questions they said that the cycle had probably never cycled totally because of too many water changes.

Do you think this is correct and if so how should I handle the maintence. The customer service rep. indicated I was doing to many water changes for this to cycle. I'm home most days so I'm watching my fish closely and all seems good with them.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

I run FX5 and have never had a cloudy problem, infact, just the opposite. My cascade became overwhelmed and my water started to develope a bloom... I bought an FX5, and placed Bio-Balls blue media in the bottom tray, a stuff-load full of ceramic rings of varying pore size in the second tray. I use Morning Glory[Wal-Mart] poly floss(nylon bagged) in my top tray and most recommend against it because of the maintenance frequency. It will clog within 2.5 - 4 weeks! When it clogs I can tell because of the distinct microbubbles in the column. You can see them expelled from the outlet.

Also I have no doubt that without media other than the foam pads, this filter turns the 600 GPH, without split adjustable outlet nozzle.

I take my trays out once in a while and rinse the media in column water removed from mid-strata. But again I will change the floss(top) every few weeks.

One of the best filters I have ever owned in 13 years.

You should also know that I use a 23 gallon W/D also. This most likely had beneficial effects during filter swaps, plus the seeded media.

Jspigs said:
The tank does not sound like it is cycling.

Water changes do not prevent the tank from cycling because the beneficial bacteria is mainly on the surfaces of the tank/gravel/filter media. There is probably a small amount of bacteria in the water column but not enough to have a significant or noticeable impact on water quality/cycling.
Click to expand...

Agreed!

-Aaron
 
I put the Bio Max and Pre-Filter which are both ceramic rings, along with the polishing filter which is like the poly floss, although the directions say put it on the bottom basket, and I then have cabon in the top basket. I can pull it out tomorrow and change things around. The filter works great and the out put is awsome. This is why I called customer service, I figured I was packing the filter wrong. Can I get the Bio Balls Blue Media from any Pet Store?

Do you think it could possibly be still be cycling? I've only done two changes with the filter, once each month but both times I took it out completely and rinsed all the media and emptied the dirty water out. Should I not be doing this? I know this problem has to be what I'm doing I just need help figuring out what I'm doing wrong.
Thanks
 
How about a more detailed story on how you went from 2 filters to one?

And a detailed list of the stock in the tank?

And current readings from a good liquid test kit...tap and tank?
 
I had a cascade 700 and an emperor 400 is what I had and I knew it wasn't enough for the 130. I had a 55 gal that I put those on and left the media in that since I had left a large portion of the old substrate in the 130 as well as plants etc.

My water paramaters are amonia 0, nitrite 0, ph 8 and nitrate 5. I'm using a API Master kit. I haven't check my water from the faucet recently but in the past it has been all the same but the ph was lower. We have well water.

The tank has 13 Rainbows, 4 angels, 5 Black skirt tetras, 3 clown loaches, 3 Molly's, 4 cory's. At this point the largest of all the fish is probably 4".
 
ks...how did you swap from two to one filter..in detail?
 
Okay...I see what you're asking now. I just took the two out, left the existing media in since everything was new in the 55 gal tank and then hooked up the fluval. All new media. I knew I would have to go through a cycle because of that but the cycle seemed to do ok and then it got very clear. But, all of a sudden it started getting cloudy about a week ago. I took the filter out and left all the filter media in, except for carbon, which I added new.

That's it...
 
i would just keep doing the water changes and it will clear up soon. sounds like a mini cycle happening.
 
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